Engine shutdown may have started Canadian train disaster, railway says

By Lauren Russell, Emanuella Grinberg and Umaro Djau, CNN

Updated 0400 GMT (1100 HKT) July 8, 2013

Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Edward Burkhardt, CEO of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways Inc., speaks on Wednesday, July 10, during a news conference. A train with 72 tanker cars carrying crude oil barreled down the track before derailing and exploding in Lac -Megantic, Quebec, on Saturday, July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A woman takes a photo of the devastation on Tuesday, July 9.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A police officer surveys the damage. At least 15 people were killed and another 45 remain missing after the weekend crash, authorities said. Those still missing are feared dead, possibly vaporized by the resulting inferno, according to some experts.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Residents leave a convenience store in a part of Lac Megantic that reopened on July 9.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A worker reconnects wires on July 9.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Train wreckage is pictured in Lac Megantic, Quebec, on July 9.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – An emergency worker works at the site of the train wreckage on July 9.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Burned tanker cars are scattered on the tracks in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, on Monday, July 8.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A man collects oil floating on the Chaudiere River near Lac-Megantic on July 8.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Derailed rail cars sit in mud and oil in Lac-Megantic on July 8, in this handout image released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A man consoles a woman on July 8 at the Polyvalente Montignac, the school used as a shelter for evacuated Lac-Megantic residents.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, second left, observes the site of the explosion on Sunday, July 7.

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Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters continue to douse burning wreckage on July 7 in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – People cry and hug each other on July 7 while they sit on the grass at the Polyvalente Montignac, the school sheltering the people who were forced to leave their houses.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters continue to water smoldering rubble on July 7.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A concerned resident waits near an aid station on July 7.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A view of the town from a lookout point at Lac Megantic, Quebec, July 7.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters walk past a burnt out vehicle near the train derailment in Lac Megantic, Quebec, July 7.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Melted siding on a home is seen near the scene of a train derailment in Lac Megantic, Quebec, July 7.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Smoke billows from a fire at the site of a train derailment on Saturday, July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters walk past derailed cars on July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters work to put out fires at the wreckage of the train in Lac-Megantic on July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – A firefighter walks past the remains of buildings in Lac-Megantic on July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Smoke rises in the background as Quebec Premier Pauline Marois speaks to reporters in Lac-Megantic on July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters douse flames after the derailment on July 6.

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Photos: Train derails, explodes in Canadian town26 photos

Train derails, explodes in Canadian town – Firefighters battle fires in Lac-Megantic on July 6.

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Story highlights

Engine shutdown, air brake release may have caused train derailment, rail company says

Train rolled downhill, derailed and exploded into flames

At least five people killed; about 40 unaccounted for

"It looks like a war zone here," Prime Minister Stephen Harper says

The company responsible for a runaway train that exploded in a small Canadian town Saturday said an engine shutdown may have released air brakes holding the train in place.

At least five people are dead and around 40 are unaccounted for in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, after a 73-car train carrying crude oil derailed and crashed, local law enforcement officials said. Tankers exploded, sending thick plumes of smoke into the night sky, leveling dozens of homes and buildings and forcing nearly 2,000 people from their homes.

The train had stopped for a crew change Friday night in a station about seven miles from Lac-Megantic, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said in a statement. The train's engineer had "tied down" and checked into a motel.

"One fact that has emerged is the locomotive of the oil train parked at Nantes station was shut down subsequent to the departure of the engineer who had handled the train from Farnham, which may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place," the company said in a statement, noting that it still didn't have "complete information."

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See massive fire after train derailment

The explosion devastated the small lakeside town, where firefighters were still working Sunday to contain hot spots so law enforcement could expand its investigation. Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the locomotive event recorder and planned to analyze it for information on throttle position and speed, among other data.

The burned bodies of the dead have been sent to Montreal for identification, but "we know that there will be many more" deaths, police spokesman Lt. Michel Brunet said Sunday.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper likened the town to a "war zone" after touring it Sunday.

"There is not a family in this area that is not touched by this," he said in a press conference outside Polyvalente Montignac High School, the main staging area for recovery efforts.

"A beautiful downtown here has been destroyed," he said. "There's going to be a need for substantial reconstruction."

Harper would not comment on specifics of the disaster except that he expected information "about why this occurred" to lead to a police investigation.

"I've heard things that concern me greatly," he said. "There will be investigations that will point to guilty or responsible people."

Witnesses told the CBC they heard five or six explosions. One person saw the first train tanker tip over and yelled "run, run!" as he dashed toward the lake for which the town is named. He told CBC the flames chased him to the edge of the water.

"The fire was moving so quickly," he said. "We saw balls of fire shooting out onto the water."

One woman told CNN affiliate CTV she was working at a bar nearby and got off work an hour before the accident.

"I have no news from my friends; I haven't heard from any of them," she told tearfully told CTV. "I can't say more than that. We're waiting for confirmation."

Amid the chaos, friends and families are scrambling to find their loved ones.